European carmakers have lobbied behind the scenes in Brussels for a one-year delay to the introduction of planned EU limits on nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions, despite public uproar at the VW rigging scandal.

Germany has been in the EU's bad books for a while now over its high urban nitrogen dioxide levels. In the midst of the Volkswagen scandal, Berlin puts the blame squarely on new diesel-powered cars emissions. EURACTIV Germany reports.

Conservatives in the European Parliament delivered a setback for European Commission plans to erase tax benefits for diesel fuel, saying that a period of austerity and high fuel costs is not the time for such moves.